As known well, an outside handle is mounted outside a door and an inside handle is mounted inside the door, for the opening and closing of a door of a vehicle, while a door latch assembly locked and released by a device such as a remote controller, a key, and the like is mounted inside a door panel.
Thus, when a user manipulates an opening button of a remote controller to open a door normally, a solenoid of a door latch assembly received with a signal from the remote controller moves in an opening direction of the door such that releasing of the door latch is carried out and then a user pulls the door outside handle in the opening direction so that the door is opened.
Hereinafter, configuration and operations of an existing door latch assembly of a vehicle will be described.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are a perspective view and a side view showing a locked state of an existing door latch assembly, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are a perspective view and a side view showing an unlocked state of the existing door latch assembly, respectively.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a reference numeral ‘100’ indicates an outer handle lever associated with a door outside handle.
The outer handle lever 100 is disposed outside in the width direction of the door panel and is connected with an outside handle (not shown) by a cable 102. By doing so, the cable 102 is pulled simultaneously with as the outside handle is pulled so that the outer handle lever 100 is pivoted in the opening direction.
To this end, the outer handle lever 100 is configured about a rotation center such that the cable 102 is connected to an end of the outer handle lever 100 and an operating pin 104 integrally protrudes from the other end of the outer handle lever 100 to operate a first opening lever 120.
In this case, the first opening lever 120, a second opening lever 130, and a pawl lever 140 are coaxially connected close by the outer handle lever 100 to pivot.
The first opening lever 120 is configured such that an opening lever operating end 122 is formed in the lower side from a rotation center thereof to bring a contact with the operating pin 104 and that a first slot 124, into which a lower side of a locking linkage 160 is inserted to ascend and descend, is formed close by the opening lever operating end 122.
Around a rotary shaft of the first opening lever 120, a first return spring 126 is mounted to return the first opening lever 120 to its original position after pivoting in the opening direction.
The second opening lever 130 is coaxially connected to the first opening lever 120 while pivoting independently from the first opening lever 120, such that a lower side thereof lower than a rotation center is formed with a second slot 132 matched with the first slot 124 of the first opening lever 120 and having a length shorter than that of the first slot 124.
The door is unlocked when the lower end of the locking linkage 160 is inserted into the first slot 124 of the first opening lever 120 and the second slot 132 of the second opening lever 130 simultaneously, while the door is locked when the lower end of the locking linkage 160 escapes from the second slot 132 of the second opening lever 130 but is inserted into only the first slot 124 of the first opening lever 120.
The pawl lever 140 is coaxially connected to the second opening lever 130 to pivot simultaneously with the second opening lever 130 such that a pawl 142 integrally protrudes from the upper side above the rotation center thereof.
A claw lever 150 is pivotally disposed above the pawl lever 140 to restrict a striker when a door is closed and to release the striker when the door is opened.
A claw 152 integrally protrudes from the lower side of the claw lever 160 such that the claw lever 150 is caught by the pawl 142 of the pawl lever 140 and then does not pivot in the door opening direction. A striker restricting slot 154 is formed at the directly side of the claw 152 such that a striker 110 integrally formed on a door side frame is inserted thereinto.
Moreover, a second return spring 156 is mounted around a rotation shaft of the claw lever 150, so that the second return spring 156 provides a resilient force enabling the claw lever 150 to pivot in the opening direction.
A locking lever 170 is mounted on the door panel and is pivoted by an actuator for a door lock (a state that the door is not open even when the door outside handle or the door inside handle is operated in the door opening direction) and a door unlock (a state that the door may be open when the door outside handle or the door inside handle is operated in the door opening direction).
The locking lever 170 pivots in the door locking direction by a driven actuator when a driver turns a door lock selection switch on and pivots in the door unlocking direction by a driven actuator when the driver turns a door release switch on.
In this case, a third slot 172 is formed in a side from the rotation shaft of the locking lever 170 to lift and lower the locking linkage 160.
Then, the lower end of the locking linkage 160 is inserted into the first slot 124 of the first opening lever 120 and the second slot 132 of the second opening lever 130 to ascend and descend, while the upper end thereof is inserted into the third slot 172 of the locking lever 170 through a hinge pin to ascend and descend.
An inside handle lever associated with an inside handle to open and close the door in the compartment is not shown in the drawings.
Here, operations of the existing door latch assembly as described above will be described.
Door Locked State
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a locked state of the existing door latch assembly.
The door locked state means a state that a door is not opened even when a user manipulates the outside handle or the inside handle in the door opening direction.
To this end, when a driver turns the door lock switch on, the locking lever 170 lowers the locking linkage 160 as being pivoted in the door locking direction by a driven actuator.
In this case, the upper end of the locking linkage 160 is positioned on the upper side of the third slot 172 of the locking lever 170 and at the same time, the lower end thereof is escaped from the second slot 132 of the second opening lever 130 but is inserted into only the first slot 124 of the first opening lever 120.
Thus, the door outside handle is pulled in the opening direction and the cable 102 is pulled from the outside of a vehicle, so that, as shown in FIG. 2 showing a state after operation, the outer handle lever 100 connected to the cable 102 pivots in the opening direction.
At the same time, when the outer handle lever 100 pivots in the opening direction (clockwise), the operating pin 104 of the outer handle lever 100 pivots the first opening lever 120 in the opening direction (counterclockwise).
In this case, when the first opening lever 120 is pushed by the operating pin 104 and pivots in the opening direction (counterclockwise), since the lower end of the locking linkage 160 escapes from the second slot 132 of the second opening lever 130 and is inserted into only the first slot 124 of the first opening lever 120, the hinge pin at the lower end of the locking linkage 160 pivots with the first opening lever 120 but does not pivot the second opening lever 130.
Thus, the second opening lever 130 and the pawl lever 140, which must be operated to open the door, do not pivot and as shown in FIG. 5 the claw 152 of the claw lever 150 is caught and restricted by the pawl 142 of the pawl lever 140, so that the door may be prevented from being opened even by manipulating the door outside handle in the door locked state.
Door Unlocked State
FIGS. 3 and 4 show an unlocked state of the existing door latch assembly.
The door unlocked state means that the door is opened when a user manipulates the door outside handle or the door inside handle in the opening direction.
To this end, when a driver turns the door lock switch off, the locking lever 170 lifts the locking linkage 160 as being pivoted in the door unlocking direction by a driven actuator.
In this case, the upper end of the locking linkage 160 is positioned on the lower side of the third slot 172 of the locking lever 170 as the locking linkage 160 ascends and at the same time, the lower end thereof is inserted into the first slot 124 of the first opening lever 120 and the second slot 132 of the second opening lever 130.
Thus, the door outside handle is pulled in the opening direction and the cable 102 is pulled from the outside of a vehicle, so that, as shown in FIG. 4 showing a state after operation, the outer handle lever 100 connected to the cable 102 pivots in the opening direction.
At the same time, when the outer handle lever 100 pivots in the opening direction (clockwise), the operating pin 104 of the outer handle lever 100 pivots the first opening lever 120 in the opening direction (counterclockwise).
In this case, when the first opening lever 120 is pushed by the operating pin 104 and pivots in the opening direction (counterclockwise), since the lower end of the locking linkage 160 is inserted into the first slot 124 of the first opening lever 120 and the second slot 132 of the second opening lever 130, the hinge pin at the lower end of the locking linkage 160 pivots with the first opening lever 120 and the second opening lever 130.
Moreover, the pawl lever 140 pivotally and coaxially connected to pivot with the second opening lever 130 pivots with the second opening lever 130 in the opening direction.
Next, the pawl 142 climbs over the claw 152 of the claw lever 150 as the pawl lever 140 pivots so that the claw 152 is released. At the same time, the claw lever 150 pivots in the door opening direction due to the second return spring 156 so that the striker restricting slot 154 of the claw lever 150 is opened inward to allow the door.
Thus, when a user who is outside a vehicle continues to pull the door outside handle in the opening direction, the striker 110 integrally formed with the door side frame escapes from the striker restricting slot 154 of the claw lever 150 such that the door is opened.
However, the existing door latch assembly has following drawbacks.
At the side collision of a door of a vehicle, when an inertial force is applied to the door outside handle such that the outside handle is pulled in the opening direction or that the outer handle lever connected to the door outside handle is pivoted in the opening direction by an impact caused by the side collision, the door may be opened. If the door is opened at the side collision caused by the impact, a passenger may be catapulted out of the vehicle and he/she may be deadly injured.
In other words, at the side collision of a door of a vehicle, when an inertial force is applied to the door outside handle such that the outside handle is pulled in the opening direction or that the outer handle lever connected to the door outside handle is pivoted in the opening direction by an impact caused by the side collision, a process of opening a door from the door unlocked state is carried out identically so that the door may be opened. Furthermore, if the door is opened at the side collision caused by the impact, a passenger may be catapulted out of the vehicle and he/she may be deadly injured.
The reason of the door opening at the side collision is that the outer handle lever connected by the door outside handle and the cable is eccentrically disposed toward the outside than toward the inside, resulting in being easily affected by the side collision.
Then, a new door latch assembly for preventing a door from being opened even at the side collision is demanded.